The Cut Out Girl cover art

The Cut Out Girl

A Story of War and Family, Lost and Found

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The Cut Out Girl

By: Bart van Es
Narrated by: Bart van Es
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About this listen

*** WINNER OF THE COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018 ***

WINNER OF THE SLIGHTLY FOXED BEST FIRST BIOGRAPHY PRIZE 2018

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Cut Out Girl written and read by Bart van Es.

'A masterpiece of history and memoir' Evening Standard

'Superb. This is a necessary book - painful, harrowing, tragic, but also uplifting' The Times

Little Lien wasn't taken from her Jewish parents - she was given away in the hope that she might be saved. Hidden and raised by a foster family in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation, she survived the war only to find that her real parents had not. Much later, she fell out with her foster family, and Bart van Es - the grandson of Lien's foster parents - knew he needed to find out why.

His account of tracing Lien and telling her story is a searing exploration of two lives and two families. It is a story about love and misunderstanding and about the ways that our most painful experiences - so crucial in defining us - can also be redefined.

'Luminous, elegant, haunting - I read it straight through' Philippe Sands, author of East West Street

'Deeply moving. Writes with an almost Sebaldian simplicity and understatement' Guardian

'Remarkable, deeply moving' Penelope Lively

©2018 Bart van Es (P)2018 Penguin Audio 20th Century Military Modern Judaism War Western Europe Fostering Holocaust
All stars
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I truly hope this book does not receive harsh criticism to the writer or his family. They made some tough decisions during harsh times. What an amazing woman Lien is. I truly wish the world would learn to live life better from stories like Lien’s. Humans have made some horrendous choices in life and about life. I would challenge anyone to read this book without a tear in their eye or tightening in the throat. Thank you Bart van Es and Lien, thank you for sharing your story, you are inspiring beyond words.

Heart wrenching and softly powerful

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This is a really fascinating story I enjoyed it from beginning to end. I couldn’t put it down.

great story

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Found this a nice gentle story most enjoyable. Abook about how and what people did to survive. it was moving and touching of people in caing for a young girl. was enjoyable to listen to. Given information as to a different part of history not told. loved the narration and whole story. Excellent

Pleasant story

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A victim of circumstance, Lien was a young Jewish girl who was ‘temporarily’ separated from her parents during the occupation of The Netherlands in WW2. She becomes less and less connected with her surroundings, and with herself, as she is moved from house to house, but is never afraid.

Themes of loss, disconnectedness, delayed grief and human kindness shown by idealistic, yet brave, citizens of a country subjugated by a terrible regime, this is not only an account of Lien’s often bewildering and harrowing experiences as a young child, but also of healing and her long journey to reconnection. The author, her nephew whom she’s never previously met, also undergoes a transformation of his own through listening to Lien’s story, and through coming to understand his and other people’s family’s generosity of spirit in hiding Jewish families, often at great personal cost. He also writes about the darker side, not shying away from recounting some of the injustices visited upon people who were at their most vulnerable, including Lien.
Not just another story about the tragedy of the Holocaust, but a personal account of moving beyond survival to becoming whole again.

It’s never too late to be what you might have been.

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.